External Threats
by DrCyrusBortel
Summary: The world of Gadget and the Gadgetinis contains a number of outrageous examples of international collaboration. The answer to why this is the case may be found within the first episode of the series "Don't Call Me Gadget!"...


This author does not own "Gadget and the Gadgetinis", and this story was written for personal amusement. Inspired by, and requires prior viewing of, Episode 1 "Don't Call Me Gadget".

 _Numerous episodes of "Gadget and the Gadgetinis" feature ridiculously collaborative relationships between major governments, such as a global disarmament program (which establishes a weapons depot under international control) and, well, WOMP (the board of which apparently includes China and India as well as the US. This may be why…_

The opening speech had stunned many of the gathered military leaders of fifty nations into silence. The video – of the aliens which had begun to settle Earth's Moon – changed the stunned silence into an uproar.

"Your operative told the aliens that the Moon was open territory! Why?!"

"Our operative, Lieutenant Gadget, acted intelligently to discourage alien interest in Earth while avoiding immediate outright conflict with the extraterrestrial colonizers. Immediately asserting that the Moon – which, I might add, is completely uninhabited - belonged to humanity would have significantly harmed relations with the extraterrestrials, greatly lowering the prospects for a peaceful resolution of our… conflict. At the same time, Lt. Gadget demonstrated our military prowess by a stunning show of force against Doctor Claw's personnel. His overtures to the extraterrestrials have bought us time."

"I may have underestimated your operative, General Sir. Please continue."

"Thank you, Colonel-General Wu. Nonetheless, while we hope that our future relations with the colonizers will be cordial, we must be prepared for a military confrontation with the aliens. As the saying goes, if you want peace, prepare for war."

The Indian delegate spoke.

"What conflict could we possibly have with the aliens? The resources of space are virtually limitless, and, as you pointed out, we have no settlements on the moon."

General Sir solemnly shook his head.

"The aliens breathe air, and would consider Earth habitatable. Given their vastly superior technological capabilities – and out current state of unpreparedness – they might well be incentivized to launch an attack on Earth sooner rather than later. Furthermore, many resources of space are limited and finite. The deposits of lunar ice, for instance, will probably only be enough for a century or two of colonization, and are confined to a few perpetually shadowed craters at the lunar poles. Given the importance of these deposits of lunar ice to both human and alien settlement of the moon and subsequent human expansion into the solar system, the polar craters may well become a contested resource between us and the aliens."

The South African delegate began to scratch his head, puzzled.

"Do any of our governments have plans to expand into space?"

General Sir nodded.

"As we speak, administrators of spaceflight agencies from Europe, Russia, China, and the United States are meeting to discuss plans for aggressive human exploration and settlement of the moon."

The South African delegate frowned.

"Why the heck would we want to contest the aliens on their own home turf?"

General Sir cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"Gentlemen… as recently as one year ago, most of our governments were operating under the assumption that space colonization was not necessary – that it was too difficult, or would occur on its own. Now, thanks to the example before us, that space – and interstellar - colonization is feasible and commonplace – and is the niche into which advanced civilizations must expand."

General Sir paused for effect, and continued.

"Space is vast. It is estimated that the resources of this Solar System could support at least a trillion humans – or aliens. Population growth, however, is exponential. At a growth rate of say, 0.7% per year – a slow population growth rate, roughly equal to that of the United States – the human population would reach six trillion in less than a thousand years – a blink of an eye where history is concerned, as Colonel-General Wu would agree".

General Wu nodded.

"A thousand years is barely enough time for four Chinese dynasties to rise and fall – and China has had twelve of those."

General Sir continued his speech.

"The problem is more pressing than that. While the aliens have shown no hostility to recent lunar probe launches, they may not be as amicable in the future. We must gain footholds across the Solar System as soon as possible, or run the risk of having the stars and planets – which, as I mentioned, will be the future of the human species - barred to our children and grandchildren by a large, well-established population of alien colonists."

General Sir slammed his fist into the table.

"We _will_ settle the planets, we _will_ settle the stars, and we are _not_ going to let a band of alien colonists stand in our way."

The room buzzed with noises of agreement, and Lieutenant General Ripper (USAF) stood up.

"I'll have my people set up a Spacewatch program to detect any alien incursions, and a quick-response force to deal with any alien reconnaissance efforts. I ain't going to let no aliens take the stars from us!"

The Russian delegate stood.

"I will establish a quick-response force to respond to incursions on Russian territory."

Others quickly joined in, and the developing mayhem was only stopped by a timely intervention by General Sir.

"Which brings us to the main topic for discussion. Obviously, any response to a worldwide – or large-scale alien attack will have to be global in nature, and require the commitment of multiple armed forces and national governments. What we are here to do today is to draft the requirements for a global transnational military command structure, perhaps with dedicated forces, necessary to respond to the alien threat. Many of our militaries have virtually no experience working with each other, and exercises will have to be scheduled. We will have to consider the political and economic dimensions of any sustained alliance or conflict as well. The world is counting on us, people. Let's get to work."

END


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